James Bond: Every Roger Moore Movie Ranked Worst To Best

Moore’s ’73 debut came on the heels of a turn towards a greater emphasis on comedy in 1971’s Diamonds are Forever, and as the next 12 years showed, he was the perfect man to handle this tone, confidently guiding the franchise through new, uncharted waters.

Tasked with investigating the deaths of three British agents, 007 discovers a connection between the shady dictator of San Monique in Yaphet Kotto’s Dr Kananga, and the mysterious lord of Harlem Mr Big. It’s a memorable troupe of villains as Bond teams with the beautiful and mysterious Solitaire to battle the metal-hooked Tee Hee and the towering Baron Samedi on top of the uh, very quiet Whisper and Kotto’s kingpin Kananga.

The film is marred however by some strange creative choices, with its 70s blaxploitation themes not having aged well at all. The film spends a large portion of its runtime mired in the Louisiana bayou, in the midst of a boat chase that would feel quite epic if not for JW Pepper and the Louisiana State Police all-but commandeering the film, as though the late Clifton James showed up on set and refused to stop shooting scene after scene until the crew finally gave up and flew away.

There’s also some stunningly bad acting on display, with the inept Rosie Carver surely ranking among the very worst femme fatales to have appeared in Bond. Live and Let Die is rightly remembered for its colourful characters, fun set-pieces and groovy score bolstered by Paul McCartney’s legendary theme song, but it’s not quite Moore’s best.

Best Moore Moment: Escaping death via jumping across the backs of crocodiles. It’s a moment that would feel all too ridiculous with any other actor in his place, but as Moore consistently proved throughout his tenure, only he could pull off such scenes with such aplomb, so stylishly and so casually.